Nauticam NA-60D field test

In 2008, I’d heard of a company called Nauticam that made a white balance dome port. This Hong Kong based company began shipping housings the next year. By 2011, the brand has become a popular housing amongst retailers and photographers, with a wide range of housings for cameras like the Phase One 645 to the Panasonic LX5.

Known for their innovative engineering, each new generation of Nauticam product evolved with features designed in response to user feedback. Alex Mustard reviewed the Nauticam for the D7000 and gave it high ratings. I know a few people who love their Nauticams. They were one of the first manufacturers to include optical ports for fiberoptic flash sync and an impressive port locking system. The meteoric rise of Nauticam has been rather impressive.

I must add that Nauticam has publicly acknowledged the known issues and worked hard on the fixes. Furthermore, Edward was so confident of his product that he sent the NA-60D housing for the Canon EOS 60D along with the new 9” dome for me to test. So with a bit of help from Scubacam Singapore, I picked up the following gear for the test in Bali:

Since I’ve covered quite a bit of the camera in my Seacam Prelude review, I won’t be rehashing the different camera modes. I’ll just be concentrating on the NA-60D housing as it is quite different from the Prelude 60D housing. The field test will be divided into 2 parts, wideangle with the 4.33”/9” domes and macro. At the end, I’ll also post my subjective comparison of the Seacam and Nauticam housings.

FTC Disclosure:

All housing equipment tested were either on loan or owned by me. The loaned equipment have been returned.

Special acknowledgement and thanks to:

Matthew Koh of CPS, Canon Singapore for the Canon EOS 60D loan
Edward and Jacqueline Lai of Nauticam for the loan of Nauticam equipment
David Cheung and Sanah Z for helping with logistics and supplying clamps

On the 7D, you can use the wireless flash option followed by 'test flash' which will pop up the flash, no problem. I think the same is true for the 60D.Posted by Alex_Tattersall on 2011-11-04 00:54:17

As mentioned in the test, going to CA or FA modes and cover the will get the flash to pop up, unless you set the flash to be off.Posted by Drew Wong on 2011-11-02 18:28:35

Saeed:
I don't think there is a menu command to pop up the flash. You can put it in full auto mode (green square) and get it to pop up that way but if there is a menu command, could you point me to it?
Thanks
BillPosted by bvanant on 2011-11-02 18:01:12

Bill
I try not to put my own buying preferences in reviews and tests. I think it's better to be informative than endorse a product for whatever reasons. I'm not a "celebrity" and my opinion holds no weight, but facts, on the other hand, are facts.
Saeed
So glad you shared that with the world. I'm sure your gf will be thrilled to read that! :DPosted by Drew Wong on 2011-11-02 17:48:09

p.s. I love my 7D housing more than my girlfriend and that's saying a lot. :)Posted by saeedrashid on 2011-11-02 10:29:02

Bill. You can pop the flash up on the 7D using the menu.. I know as I've been UW a few times and forgotten to pop the flash up..Posted by saeedrashid on 2011-11-02 10:28:12

I like my 7D but it has some corrosion issues as well. I have a label on the back of the housing that says "Flash Up?" to make sure that it is working.
Otherwise a good and fair revue. If you had to spend your own money what housing would you buy?
BillPosted by bvanant on 2011-11-01 19:47:27